The present invention is related generally to radio frequency (RF) filters, and more particularly to a dielectric band pass filter having an improved mounting apparatus which produces a filter that is particularly well adapted for use in mobile and portable radio transmitting and receiving devices. This invention is related to the invention disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 890,686 filed on the same date as the present invention.
Conventional dielectric filters offer advantages in physical and electrical performance which make them ideally suited for use in mobile and portable radio transceivers. Connecting the filter input and output terminals to utilization means external to the filter, however, has been a problem. Typically, coaxial or other forms of transmission line are manually soldered to the input and output terminations and then each manually connected to the utilization means. When such filters are used as antenna combining duplexers for a transceiver, two dielectric blocks are used and the number of connections doubles. Additionally, the critical nature of the connecting transmission line length becomes subject to human error.